Just a cough
by Fizzy Spots
Summary: Greg is sick with pneumonia but its nothing serious in his eyes, he'll be back to work in no time.
1. Chapter 1

AN: First fanfic, well first time written anything creative for a long time here so will see how it goes. This fic is set in series 7, after the events of fannysmackin' so the old cast are all in tact (I've yet to watch all the Langston episodes).

Chapter 1

"Name?"

"Greg Sanders"

"Do you have medical insurance Mr Sanders?"

"Oh yeah, job pays for it" Greg dug out his insurance card from his wallet and handed it to the petite brunette woman behind the desk. A form was pushed back in his direction.

"Fill these out please and bring them back when you're done."

Greg obediently took a seat and began completing the forms, which there seemed to be a lot of for a sick person to cope with, handing them back to the brunette he normally would have flirted with had he been his usual quirky self.

"Thank you Mr Sanders, have a seat and the doctor will be with you as soon as he can though there may be a long wait." Greg nodded in response and slunk over to the waiting room chairs most of which were occupied, hunkering down between a man in a sports jacket and a woman jiggling a baby whilst trying to attend to her slightly older daughter.

In Greg's mind he shouldn't be here at all, using valuable resources which real sick people could be using but Grissom had ordered him to get himself checked out, saying his cough sounded serious and he didn't want him contaminating evidence. He crossed his arms trying to fend off the chill that had taken residence in his body and thought about his current case whilst waiting for his name to be called.

"Greg Sanders"

Greg stumbled to his feet, holding down his cough as he followed the nurse to the examination room.

"Sit on the table please and remove your jacket" the nurse instructed

Greg reluctantly pulled himself up onto the examination table and put his jacket aside.

"And what seems to be the problem today Mr Sanders?"

Couldn't these people read? Isn't that what these forms were for?

"Boss made me come but it's just a cough, nothing serious. So I'm sure you can just give me some cough medicine and then I can get back to work."

"Uh huh" The nurse looked sceptical and stuck a thermometer under his tongue and put her fingers to his neck to check his pulse. Once the thermometer beeped she merely looked at it and wrote down the figure, making no comment to Greg just pulling up his sleeve and began taking his blood pressure.

"Have you ever smoked Mr Sanders?" He shook his head

"Erm no, mum said she'd kill me if I ever did. Though learning about what chemicals they put in them was enough to put me off. I mean a normal cigarette contains arsenic, formaldehyde, lead, hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and 43 other known carcinogens, not really designed for the human body." _that's great Greg; keep rambling on._

The nurse gave him a bored look before continuing on with her examination. " Ok then. When did your cough start?" the nurse asked, writing down his blood pressure.

Greg closed his eyes and thought back, there may have been a tickle a week ago and he may have been feeling a little run down but that was probably from all the overtime than the cough and it only seemed to be overnight that it suddenly developed from nothing into well _this._

"Started few days ago, it sounded worse then so must be getting better."

"Mm hmm" there was that sceptical sound again from the nurse. "Well that's all your stats done. Someone should be with you shortly."

Greg watched her walk out the door, shutting it behind her. He quickly pulled on his jacket and let out the hacking coughs he'd been holding during his examination. He perched upon the edge of the examination table, drumming his heels against the side, willing for a doctor to walk through the door. As time went by he realised he was in for a long wait and stretched out on the table, making sure to lie on his back as this seemed to reduce the coughs a little. He'd just been nearing the end of a double shift and was losing a battle against his dropping eyelids and slipping into a light doze.

Greg snapped up at the sound of the door opening causing another coughing fit in response to this sudden action. A quick glance at the clock showed that he'd been asleep for just under an hour and that the doctor had finally arrived and was patiently waiting for his coughing to die down.

"Mr Sanders I'm Doctor Caser, sorry about the wait" he said whilst flipping through Greg's chart "and what seems to be the problem tonight?"

Greg stared at him, feeling his mouth dropping open. _Doesn't anyone talk to each other in this place, can no one read. The information must be in that chart in front of him. _

"It's just a cough, nothing bad. Boss sent me" Greg still felt embarrassed to be in hospital for such a minor ailment.

Doctor Caser merely nodded, and walked over and began his examination.

"Open" Greg obediently opened his mouth to let the doctor exam his throat. The doctor stepped away slightly, reaching for his stethoscope and placing it over Greg's chest.

"I'd like you to take several deep breaths for me and let it out slowly."

Greg took a breath and let out a deep cough. Greg tried again but kept having to cough. The doctor made no comment but continued moving the stethoscope, asking for him to cough every so often and tapping on his back. Eventually he finished his examination and scribbled something down. Greg let out a relieved breath, finally a sign he was getting out of here.

The doctor handed him the form. "Take this to x-ray and they'll get you booked in."

Greg stared at the form blankly. "Wait what? I thought it was a prescription."

"I want to get an x-ray to further investigate" the doctor repeated "Sounds like you have fluid in your lungs" pushing Greg out the door and rushing off to his next patient.

Greg followed the signs in the corridor until he found the door that said x-ray, entering and stopping at the reception desk.

"Form please" Greg blinked at the receptionist and handed her the form.

The receptionist let out an exasperated sigh, clearly her night had been as long as Greg's "you need to sign it sir". Greg felt like he'd never signed so many forms but obediently scrawled his signature and handed it back.

"Wait over there sir and a technician will be along shortly"

_Hooray more waiting. _Greg took a seat and began flipping through the outdated magazines they had in the small waiting area. Eventually a white coated woman walked down the corridor and called his name.

"Mr Sanders you're here for a chest x-ray?"

He merely nodded, exhaustion and sickness finally catching up to him. _They really need to improve their communication in this place._

"Well sir if you'd like to follow me" she replied before storming down the corridors. _More corridors, this place seem endless_. They followed the corridor until they reached the machine where the doctor handed him a gown and pointed to a room across the hall.

"Opening in the back. Then come stand in front of the panel in the room and we can get started."

_Great, maybe then I can go home and get some sleep. _ Greg reluctantly changed into the gown, letting out a shiver as he felt the cold air straight away. He walked across to the room, holding the back of the gown together in an effort to retain some of his dignity and stood as instructed against the panel.

"You need to keep still whilst we do this and keep your arms down." the technician instructed.

_That's easy for you to say. _He took a breath and coughed, body shaking in response.

"We need to do that again, really need you to hold still."

He took a slower breath this time, fighting the tickle down in his throat which threatened to erupt.

"Right now turn to the side and out your arms over your head."

_Ok this cough is getting really hard to fight here._

"And we are done. Take this form to the front desk and a doctor will shortly be along with the results."

_Yeah nothing seems to happen quickly in this place._ Luckily by the time Greg reached the front desk the area had emptied out, the night casualties of Vegas being treated and sent home. The nursing staff must have changed shift as a different nurse led him to the examination room and instructed him to wait for the doctor. Surprisingly, just as Greg had settled himself in for a long wait the doctor appeared with his results.

"Are you allergic to anything? Any trouble with antibiotics?"

Greg shook his head. "Nothing that I know of."

"I'm writing you a prescription for antibiotics to be taken once a day and a codeine cough syrup."

Greg looked blankly at him. "Okay, I have a shift in a few hours I can carry on working can't I?"

Doctor Caser looked up from his prescription pad; his eyebrows raised "I wouldn't advise it Mr Sanders." He ripped the paper from the prescription pad and handed them over to Greg. "My recommendation if you want to get better is bed rest and plenty of fluids to keep yourself hydrated. What is it that you do?"

Greg was feeling pretty bewildered "I'm a CSI; I have a really important case I don't have time for bed rest." _ Well ok it wasn't really his case but more Sara's_ _who would probably be able to manage without him but it was a pretty interesting case and a valuable learning experience and he really, really didn't want to be sick._ "How long before I can get back to work?"

Doctor Caser looked surprised at this question, as if he should have figured this out already. "You have pneumonia; I doubt you'll be finishing that case."

End Chapter


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After escaping the hospital Greg had headed home, diverting to the local store on his way to pick up supplies which had been a pretty embarrassing situation in which he had had to convince the store clerk that he was perfectly fine and capable of getting home before he could leave.

Greg shifted his bags to the floor after finishing his slow laborious trek up the stairs to his apartment, digging through his pockets to find his key, finally pushing the door open with his foot. After putting away his shopping he leant his forehead against the cool surface of the fridge door in an effort to fight back the headache that had crept up on him the past few hours.

The doctor had told him he'd probably caught the illness from someone he met during his work. Running his typical week through his mind and the people he met he figured there were a lot of possibilities of contraction – crime scenes, rooting through rubbish, interviewing members of the public, employees at the lab.

He grabbed the bottle of water he'd left on the side and took a sip. Picking up his meds he scanned through the instructions, seeing that they worked best taken with food he wondered over to the toaster and stuck in two slices of bread. He should probably phone work, let Grissom know that he wouldn't be in for the next shift, or probably the shift after that but maybe the day after he'd be well enough. His toast pops up and he pulls a plate from the draining board next to the sink, eating the toast dry to avoid the walk back to the fridge, finally taking his meds.

Now for some sleep, Greg looked from the sofa to the bedroom, the sofa was closed and he could watch television then but the bed would probably be warmer and much more comfortable. Mind decided Greg started to stumble his way towards his bedroom when the phone rang. Groaning Greg though about ignoring it and letting his answer machine pick it up but reconsidered when he thought it may have been the lab calling him in to work.

"Hello."

"Greggy, your actually home for a change. I phoned for hours yesterday and the day before that, don't you ever leave that lab." Greg closed his eyes and leaned back against the kitchen counter, why oh why did he answer the phone.

"Hey mum, I'm sorry works just been really busy lately"

"When aren't you busy." She lets out a sigh before continuing. "I know your jobs important to you, you always so caring when you were younger but I worry about you..." Greg moved to the wall and lent against it, phasing out her voice as she continued talking, making noises between her pauses as if he were really listening. He let out a cough, feeling something burbling in his chest as he did so. There was a drawn out pause from the phone.

"Greg you sound awful, are you sick? Have you even been to the doctors?"

"Yeah I have." He wheezed back, still recovering from the latest bout of coughing.

"You did?" she sounded sceptical, as if she didn't trust him to look after himself. "Well what did he say?"

"What did who say?"

"The doctor what did he say? Did he give you anything?"

"I'm fine just some chest infection, doctor gave me something to help clear it up. Back to work before you know it" Greg reached up to pinch his nose between his fingers, his headache pounding behind his eyes.

"Do you need to have a follow up appointment? Are you staying by yourself because I can get a plane ticket –"

"No mum that's not necessary I can look after myself!" Greg said in alarm because the last thing he wanted was his mum jetting across the country just to tuck him into bed. He coughed again, trying to move the handset to avoid her from hearing.

"Mum I just came from a long shift, I should really get to be-"

"I thought you said you were at the doctors, how can you do both?" her voice had taken on a sharp tone. Great, he didn't mean to make her angry and normally he could handle it when she get into this mood but all he could focus on was getting into bed and huddling under the covers until he could shift this weight from his chest

"I went there after... Well Grissom banished me from the lab until I went."

"Well at least someone's watching your back. I know you Greg, you don't look after yourself, and you'll just ignore things until they get worse and worse and you end up collapsing or I'm taking you to the hospital." _Yes the hospital_, Greg remembered all those trips, the hours of waiting in the often overcrowded waiting room just for some skinned knees or a nose bleed, taking up time for really sick people.

"I just worry about you, I mean you're my only son, all I really have and you're so far away." She replies in a tearful voice. Greg felt his throat clogging up as her concern reached him.

"I worry about you too mum" he managed to croak out, "I really need to get some rest, I'll phone you again soon." Greg was starting to regret declining her offer to come and look after him as he felt waves of loneliness wash over him.

"Ok sweetie. Feel better soon, make sure you get lots of rest and drink plenty." _ Hard to rest when I'm on the phone with you still. _ Eventually once their goodbyes were said and said again he managed to put the phone down. Letting out a relieved sigh he reached over for his water bottle, his medicines and the cough syrup and finally stumbled into bed.

Greg awoke to harsh coughing accompanied by a sharp stab of pain in his chest. He reached out a hand to his night stand, fumbling around until he wrapped his hand round the cough syrup; through bleary eyes he read the small label. _Take as required, side effects include fatigue, dizziness, head ache, dry mouth, dry eyes... _not really a worry as he already seemed to have all these symptoms.Amazing how much damage a lil cough could do.

Greg pulled himself upright, grabbing the sheets as the world seemed to tilt sideways. _Whoa head rush, maybe I should take things a little more slowly. _Steadying himself he pushed himself to his feet, gripping the medicine tightly in his hand he stumbled down his short hallway, leaning against the wall as he did. He reached the drawer and pulled it open hunting around for a teaspoon, after making this journey from his bedroom he was determined to find one.

He carefully measured it as much as his shaking hands would allow, quickly swallowing the medicine and grimacing at the after taste. He coughed again, grimacing as each cough increased the pounding in his head and at the gurgley sound which emanated from his chest.

Noticing his mobile on the kitchen counter he reached over and looked at the illuminated clock. _Oh god is that the time got to phone Grissom and tell him I won't be in_. He quickly dialled Grissom; it was picked up after a few short rings.

"Grissom"

"Hey its Greg, just letting you know I'm not going to be able to make shift tonight." Greg reached over and began fiddling with his fridge magnets, feeling guilty about missing a shift as Grissom let out a sigh over the phone.

"Next time Greg it would be useful if you didn't phone just before shift."

"I'm sorry I fell asleep and..." Greg meekly replied fighting down the feeling of nausea.

"Don't worry Greg. What did the doctor say?"

"Just a chest infection." Greg felt a pang of annoyance over answering this question again "Griss I really need to go." The nauseous feeling was getting stronger and there were certain things he did not want to share with his boss.

"Well if you need anything just call."

"Ok bye" Greg slammed the phone shut, not giving Grissom time to respond and stumbled to the bathroom just in time to throw up in the toilet.

End chapter


	3. Chapter 3

AN: this chapter may be a bit different as I'm trying to include more characters into this story.

Chapter 3

After emptying his stomach of what seemed to be the last few weeks of food Greg had stumbled back to bed, huddling under the covers and dropping into a deep sleep only to awaken to dry heave into the bin he placed next to his bed.

Greg was not happy, after this rude awakening he had spent the last few hours feeling exhausted and wanting to fall back to sleep but the combination of his body aching and the sharp pain in his chest kept him from doing so and he resorted to simply tossing and turning in his bed, often slipping into a doze and coughing himself awake.

During one of his light sleeps he heard his mobile ringing but unfortunately he had left it on the kitchen counter and he couldn't bear the thought of putting one foot out of bed, instead choosing to lay there and feel sorry for himself. He heard the phone go off again, choosing to ignore it yet again and slipping back into a light sleep.

Once again his sleep was interrupted, though this time it was by the doorbell ringing, Greg closed his eyes and tried to will them away, thinking it was likely a neighbour come to complain about all the noise he had been making. Whoever was at the door was insistent though and Greg forced himself upright and out of bed, stumbling and wheezing as he made his way to the front door.

Nick had just finished a gruelling double shift, closing the case on a prostitute's murder and had decided to drop on by and see how his friend was doing. He felt his jaw drop as the door swung open; he had seen Greg look bad before but nothing like this. His face was drawn and his skin pale making his eyes look dull and sunken.

"Hey man, you look like hell." He said in greeting

"I'm fine. Looks worse than it is" Greg mumbled, stepping back to allow Nick to enter the apartment. Greg flopped down onto the sofa, the motion causing him to cough harshly and causing Nick to frown.

"Somehow you look bad but manage to sound even worse. Do you need me to get you anything?" Nick asked, forehead wrinkling in concern.

"It's ok, got enough supplies earlier, despite what people seem to think I can look after myself. I think I'm due another dose of meds though." Greg said, motioning towards the bedroom where he had left them signalling Nick to wander down in to the room to find them and walking back and handing them to Greg along with a bottle of water.

"Griss said you had a chest infection. How long till you're able to go back to work?"

"Aww Nicky, missing me already?" Greg said in a teasing tone, reassuring Nick that he probably would be fine as his sense of humour still seemed to be intact.

"Yeah we miss having someone to do our dirty work." Nick replied, smirking at Greg who merely grunted in reply.

Nick stayed for a while longer, the television on in the background but his focus more upon his friend feeling concerned at his raspy breathing and coughs.

"I know I'm gorgeous Nick but it's off putting having you stare at me like that, I just don't swing that way." Greg said in a teasing tone, causing Nick to roll his eyes in response. Eventually Greg managed to convince Nick to leave and let him rest. Though not before Nick managed to force feed him some food (which Greg later bought back up once he'd left) and drink enough water to remain hydrated. Once he had left Greg collapsed on the sofa, falling asleep to the drone of the television.

* * *

><p>Grissom sighed and looked at Greg's number on his phone, debating whether to ring him or not. Eventually he hit the call button, not really having a choice. Jim had just called and they had a big high profile case that night, one which required all his csi's on scene.<p>

"Sanders." Answered a raspy voice from the phone.

"Hey Greg." There was a long pause as Grissom instantly began debating his decision to call in his sick csi.

"Did you need me to come in?" Greg broke the silence

"There's been a triple homicide of what seems to be a family in their home. It's a high profile case; Ecklie wants all members on board."

"What's the address and I'll meet you out there." Grissom hesitated before answering

"Greg if you don't feel up to it you don't have to. There are plenty of us to take care of this."

"I'm fine." Greg replied in a strained voice, fed up of people doubting his ability to look after himself and looking for any excuse to keep his mind active to distract him from the heavy feeling in his chest. "The fresh air will probably do me good anyway."

"I'll send Nick to pick you up on the way." With that Grissom ended the call, feeling pretty lousy for dragging Greg in but not showing it as he entered the room to give out the assignment to his remaining csi's.

"Brass just called about a big case. Triple homicide in the Shirley house."

"The defence lawyer?" Catherine asked, picking up the case file.

"Yes, the victims are apparently a woman and two children." Catherine's eyes narrowed at the mention of the children's bodies, her mind automatically going to think of her own daughter.

"No sign of a husband?" Warrick asked, crossing his arms as he did so.

"I don't think she had one." Nick interjected.

"Here's the address, Warrick and Catherine you go in one car, I'll go with Sara and Nick you need to pick up Greg on the way."

"Greg? But I thought he was off sick." Sara turned to Grissom a confused look on her face.

"I phoned and he said he was fine and well enough to work." Grissom responded, feeling as if he were having to defend him decision.

"Griss I went by there this morning and he did not look healthy. You know Greg; he's like the rest of us, too devoted to his work."

"Nicky it was his choice and he's obviously feeling better. Now let's go whilst the scene is still fresh." With that Grissom left the room feeling pretty guilty still, the rest of his team trailing behind.

* * *

><p>Nick jumped into his Denali, muttering to himself over Greg and his stubborn fool attitude and drove the familiar route to his apartment. He pulled outside the building and spotted Greg, waiting for him on the wall, looking as ill as he had earlier in the day.<p>

Greg was still feeling pretty awful but at Grissoms phone call he had heaved himself from the sofa and stumbled into the bathroom and the shower, his body feeling a bit more normal after his shower and less like a wet noodle as the water revived him. He'd put on a thick jumped before grabbing his meds and putting them in his case and heading down the stairs to wait for Nick. He'd just sat down on the wall (getting down those stairs had taken a long time and a worryingly large amount of effort) when Nicked pulled up.

Picking up his case, Greg wandered over to the large vehicle, putting his case in the boot and walking round to the passenger's side where he met the very disapproving face of Nick Stokes glaring at him as he opened the door, mumbling a hello and slid into the seat. Nick pulled away from the pavement, looking towards the road but turning round to glare at Greg every so often. Finally Nick broke the tense silence in the car.

"You look like crap man, what the hell are you thinking! You shouldn't even be out of bed." Greg felt anger bubbling in his chest (and a cough but he was too stubborn to let that out now).

"How many times do I have to say I'm fine? It's just some chest infection. Why don't people trust me to be able to look after myself, because surprisingly I am old enough and have been living on my own long enough to know how. Now quit harassing me and let me do my job." Greg folded his arms over his chest and looked out of the window, trying to ignore how breathless his little rant had made him.

"We're just looking out for you Greggo." Nick responded in a hurt voice, Greg shifted uncomfortably in his seat as guilt over upsetting him made itself known. The rest of the journey was made in awkward silence and eventually they pulled up outside their crime scene where the crowd of media had already appeared. Nick leapt out the car, grabbing his case and made his way to Grissom, leaving Greg to follow behind feeling pretty lousy at how he had treated his friend and regretting coming out as the cooler air of the evening caused him to cough harshly.

End chapter


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Grissom was not impressed at the sight of his newest csi currently stumbling over to him, his head held low to avoid eye contact and his appearance resembling that of a corpse. Rather than showing his concern however he maintained his cool facade turning to Nick to give him his assignment.

"Nick you take the body in the kitchen with Catherine." To this Nick simply nodded and headed inside.

"Greg" Grissom hesitated, tempted to put him in a car and send him home but he knew the arguments this would likely cause as Greg was not one to take things the easy way but would more likely dig his heels into the ground. Greg seemed to pick up on Grissom's apprehension and once again intervened to break the silence.

"What's the info on the case?"

"Victims appear to be Kelly Shirley and her two children, we're waiting to positively identify them but this is their house. It appears as if all three victims were stabbed to death, it looks as if things were taken so this could be a burglary gone wrong. So far evidence points to the killer entering through a window in the kitchen and taking the Shirley's car with him once he was done here." Grissom was relieved to have something else to focus upon, other than the health of his subordinate. "You take the garden; make sure to check round the window he may have entered through." Greg nodded and made his way to the garden, Grissom made sure to assign an officer to keep an eye on him in case he keeled over before turning and heading inside himself to finish looking at the scene still doubting his decision not to send Greg home.

* * *

><p>Greg looked around in a cloudy haze, handing over what he collected to Catherine though he seemed to have no recollection of half of what evidence he had found.<p>

"GREG!" he turned to see that Grissom had now joined him and Catherine.

Greg attempted to straighten up before his two supervisors and look slightly more professional and less like a train wreck. "Sorry what were you saying?" his voice was raspy and painful sounding.

"Are you sure your ok, we had to call your name three times Greg." Catherine asked a concerned look gracing her face, her hand reaching out to his forehead in order to measure his temperature causing Greg to step back, the motion making his head spin and his stomach roll.

"We were asking about what you found." Grissom asked his concern over what Greg had collected and the impact on the case if anything went wrong growing at Greg's blank look.

"Looks like some footprints and smudges from the window Gil." Catherine intervened having had time to go over what he had collected, of which Greg was thankful for as he struggled to answer his boss's question.

"Looks like there was also a bit of torn fabric with a bit of blood on it, might be from our killer." Grissom theorized, picking up said piece of evidence from Catherine's hands. Greg found his mind detaching itself from the conversation, floating off to think how sick he currently felt and how he wished he was curled up in his nice warm bed.

"Greg" he turned his head in the direction of the voice, his vision once again turning hazy. He felt someone gripping his arm offering him support and lowering him to the ground which was a good thing as he suddenly felt completely drained, he had barely any energy to lift his head, let alone hold his whole body up. His breathing was starting to become increasingly difficult, each breath becoming more laboured causing him to take large deep breathes which set off his familiar coughing fits. Once he had reached the end of the coughing he could barely think clearly, not even enough to avoid throwing up all over Nick's shoes before he blacked out.

* * *

><p>"Greg?"<p>

Greg felt someone shaking him gently, trying to awaken him. He had the fuzzy impression that something important had been happening and wondered what that horrible wheezing sound was.

"Greg, come on man." His mind began to clear and he realised that sound was coming from him. He was also struck with a sudden chill causing his teeth to rattle and setting off yet another inevitable coughing fit.

"Easy Greg" he felt someone rubbing his back; somehow he'd ended up in a sitting position, his knees drawn up against his chest. Finally the coughing ended and he felt someone stick a bottle of water to his mouth, commanding him to drink.

"This looks worse that a chest infection, maybe we should take him to the hospital. " At the sound of Sara's suggestion Greg's mind seem to click back into reality and he forced his eyes open.

"I'm fine, I don't need to."

"Greg, people who are fine don't puke over their friends shoes then pass out." Nick replied in a frustrated voice.

"I think Sara's right Greg, a chest infection should not be this bad, and you may have something serious." Greg squirmed uncomfortably at Grissom's words.

"Well, er...when I say chest infection I may have meant pneumonia." Greg mumbled.

"Sorry Greg, you're going to have to repeat that." Catherine said in a sharp voice.

"It may have been pneumonia." the ground he sat on suddenly became more interesting than trying to meet his colleague's eyes though that didn't hide their sounds of disapproval at this new information.

"What were you thinking coming into work Greg, what would have happened if you had compromised the scene, we could have lost the whole case and the killer would have walked free." Grissom lectured Greg, the others all making agreeing sounds. Greg was glad he was looking at the floor as he felt himself tearing up; he was ill, cold and feeling pretty low about himself by this point and all he wanted was to curl up in bed and forget the world.

Grissom gazed over to Catherine he was not used to dealing or comforting sick people and Greg was definitely looking as if he could do with some tlc.

"I really think we should take you to the hospital Greg." Sara softly spoke to Greg, who at this looked up at her to shake his head in disapproval (which made his head swim and ache a bit more).

"I've seen corpses that look more lifelike than you. 'Sides we've processed most of the scene so we don't need you now" interjected Warrick, who up until this point Greg had been unaware was standing to his left.

"I am not going to the hospital." Greg said stubbornly, jutting out his chin and crossing his arms to prove a point.

"Well we can't send you home alone." Warrick replied. Greg mentally ran through his list of people he knew, many he was not particularly close to and others he didn't want to have to suffer the indignity of calling them to come babysit him.

"I'm sure I'll manage to look after myself."

"Cause your doing a great job so far." Greg turned around to glare at Nick, his earlier anger at the man flaring up once again, then quickly being replaced by embarrassment as he noticed his own vomit coating Nick's trousers and shoes.

Grissom let out a sigh, knowing they would be here for awhile unless he intervened with a suggestion. "Nicky we're pretty much done processing the scene. Give Warrick your evidence and an update on what you've found so far and take Greg home. I'm giving you the night off." Greg began to protest at this but let out a feeble bout of coughing instead. Once this latest fit was over Greg looked up to see Nick standing at his side and the other members of the team trudging back inside to finish processing.

"I don't need babysitting." Greg spat out, frustrated at being treated like a child by his work colleagues and his own sickness.

"Well." Nick reached down and helped him to his feet. "I need clean clothes and shoes since you decided to empty your stomach over them, thanks by the way. And you need some rest so we're going by your apartment to get you some supplies and then you're coming back to mine and staying in my guest room." Greg pouted at this, the fight to have his own way leaving him as waves of illness and tiredness washed over him making the journey back to the car seem as if he was crossing the desert itself.

"I'm just going to go back and have a quick word with Warrick and then we can go." Nick told him, after helping him into the passenger's seat of the car. Greg just nodded relieved to just be sitting in a comfortable seat and somewhere with heating. After what seemed like moments Greg heard the driver's door open and snapped himself awake.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." Greg peered through crusted eyes at Nick grunting back in reply as his eyes drifting shut once again, hoping he could trust Nick to take him to his home and not to the dreaded hospital.

* * *

><p>AN: If I made Greg seem sulky and childish its cause he's so sick and that's pretty much how I feel when ever I'm ill ;p<p> 


End file.
